Stiles Stilinski fidgets in his seat outside of his mom's hospital room. He taps his fingers on the arm of the chair and sings Hit Me Baby One More Time under his breath. He leans forward and props his chin in his hands and turns his head one way, then the other.

Down one hall way he can see the nurses' station. His best friends mom, Mrs. McCall, is filing some paper work. A couple other nurses are behind the desk, one is talking on the phone, and another is helping a person fill out paper work. It was a slow afternoon. Stiles can hear quiet whispers and soft beeps and a muffled cough every now and again, but Stiles can hear something else. Or maybe he can feel it. A hum. It is a familiar hum, but Stiles can't place it.

Stiles turns his head in the opposite direction and looks down the empty, white hall. He feels like that hum was coming from one of the rooms in that direction.

Stiles glances around quickly to make sure no one is paying attention to him. As usual no one is. Stiles stands, stretching a bit, going for nonchalant, and heads down the hall. He can feel the hum stronger now. It is making his skin itch and tingle and goose bumps rose on his skin.

As he crept slowly down the hall, he stops every couple steps to listen or feel or whatever to the hum.

A door opens and an older doctor, Dr. Finnegan, Stiles thinks his name is, came out holding a clip board and talking to a familiar looking beautiful brunette young lady, and a broody looking teenage boy. Stiles quickly turns toward a bulletin board hanging on the wall and tries to look innocent. He shoves his hands into his pockets and accidentally listens to the conversation being held just feet away from him.

The girl's voice is pleasant, but Stiles can hear tears around the edges. Perhaps she had just been crying, but Stiles thinks more likely that she was holding them in. He knew what both sounded like all too well.

"Please be straight with us Dr. Finnegan, will he recover…if not fully, then—" she breaks off mid-sentences and Stiles knows she is fighting to regain control of her voice.

"Laura, only time will tell. It will take a while, but we are confident that he will recover. He suffered a great deal, but Peter is strong, he should start responding to the medication soon, but again he needs time."

That's when it hit him.

That is Laura and Derek Hale and they must be talking about Peter Hale, Stiles 8th grade English teacher. Stiles favorite teacher.

The Hale's family house had caught fire last week and 5 people had died. Laura and Derek's parents, a little brother, Jeff and a sister, their Grandmother, Mr. Hale's fiancée.

Mr. Hale was the only survivor. Stiles had over heard his dad talking about the fire. Mr. Hale had stayed home sick the day of the fire. He had managed to get the youngest Hale, Cora out of the house, but when he had gone back in to help more of his family he had fallen and hit his head and suffered from severe burns .

Stiles had been upset when he had heard about the fire and very concerned for his favorite teacher. He had wanted to visit or do something for Mr. Hale, but that evening his mothers condition had worsened and she had to be admitted to the hospital again and everything else had faded into the background. He had been allowed to miss school the last week because his mother was much worse and when his dad even suggested he go, Stiles had cried. So his dad had caved easily. Stiles thought his dad liked the added distraction of Stiles being around and Stiles also knows his mom wants him there. He hadn't thought about his favorite teacher all week and now felt guilty.

Stiles thinks about the book that Mr. Hale had assigned the day before the fire. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. It was so good Stiles had stayed up until 3 am finishing the book, reading it under his blanket with a flash light. He couldn't wait for class the next day to talk to Mr. Hale about the book and see that smile of soft approval on his teachers lips that Stiles thought of as Mr. Hales 'Stiles-you-amaze-me-smile', the smile that made Stiles heart skip a beat and blood rush to his face and make his skin break out in goose bumps. No other students were ever on the recieving end of that smile, so Stiles liked to pretend it was his smile. Most of Stiles other teachers dismissed him or avoided him or were always annoyed with him because he couldn't sit still and focus or he sassed them. Mr. Harris had muttered what a" little shit" Stiles was under his breath on many occasions. But not Mr. Hale. No Mr. Hale was the only teacher who seemed to like Stiles and Stiles worked hard in his class so he could make Mr. Hale proud.

As Stiles thinks about Mr. Hale the hum seems to grow louder, drowning out the noise of the hospital. Stiles looks around quickly. Why can't anyone else hear that? Or feel it? Or whatever? Stiles feels like it is pressing in on him. Tingling on his skin. Stiles rubs his buzz cut and neck.

Dr. Finnegan and the Hale teens had moved on down the hall, their voices drifting away, too quiet for Stiles to hear. He watches them until the teens turn to go toward the elevator and the doctor is preoccupied at the nurses' station and then quickly ducks into Mr. Hale's room.

Stiles isn't prepared for the smell of burnt flesh and singed hair that meets his nose when he walks into the room and for a moment Stiles is overwhelmed. His skin is tingling with the hum that seems to have synced itself to his heartbeat, and the smells and sound of the raspy breathing coming from the other side of the pale blue curtain.

Stiles swallows. Once. Twice.

Then moves forward, tiptoeing across the room. When he gets to the curtain he takes one deep, slightly shaky breath and walks around the curtain.

Stiles wants to cry when he see the man lying motionless in the hospital bed. The man is unrecognizable because he is wrapped in white gauze. The beeps of the machine that he is hooked up to are loud in the quiet room and Stiles stand still at the foot of the bed, wondering why he even came into the room in the first place. Guilt? Curiosity? That damn hum?

Stiles walks around to the side and looks down at the form of his hurt teacher. He wants to talk to him. Even though he is in a comma he wants Mr. Hale to know he is there, he has a feeling that he will be able to hear him, wherever his mind is. A nurse had told Stiles that once when his mom was out that if he talked his mom would hear him and be comforted. He doesn't know if she told him to comfort him or if was true, but it couldn't hurt to talk to Mr. Hale.

He clears his throat and jumps at how loud it sounds in the still room, glancing down to make sure he didn't wake Mr. Hale up, even though he knows that is crazy.

"H-hi Mr. Hale. I'm probably not supposed to be in here, but hey when do I ever listen to rules, right?

Stiles smiles to himself. He always thought that Mr. Hale had liked that about him.

"Anyway, my mom is down the hall. She's not-not doing too great. Dad tries to keep a brave face, but he kinda sucks at it." Stiles stops talking a moment to swipe at his suddenly wet eyes.

Stiles has to be brave for everyone. He is his dads "brave little trooper", and his moms "brave little angel", to the doctors and nurses he is a "brave little man" and to his best friend Scott he was just simply "brave" because Stiles always took care of any spider problems for Scott (he captured the spiders in a cup and set them free outside, never squished them), but for Mr. Hale he could just be Stiles.

Really talking to a person in a comma, not as bad as you'd think.

Stiles pulls up a chair to the side of the bed and sits down, legs crossed.

"So I read The Outsiders. Couldn't put it down actually".

Stiles moves around a bit and settles into the chair, resting his elbows on his knees and chin in his had.

As Stiles continues to talk the hum settles around him, a warm presence.

Stiles plans on investigating the hum, but for now he's not going to worry about it for right now. He's going to talk to Mr. Hale.